Why a blog at all?

Welcome to my first attempt at keeping a blog and the whole process.  It may be a little slow going at first but should improve once I get into the swing of things.  

So, down to the business of why a blog in the first place.  I recently graduated from Michigan Technological University with my B.S. in Environmental Engineering at the beginning of May.  Following graduation, I took a summer research position assisting an ongoing climate change study at Salewik  National Wildlife Refuge (SWR) on the west coast of Alaska.

Looking at the  map, Kotzebue and the SWR are way up there.  The two stars at the top left of the photo are Kotzebue and SWR (left to right), the blue dot in the middle of the map is my current location, and the star on the right of the map in Michigan is my hometown of Spring lake.  To get to the town Kotzebue, I fly from the Seattle International Airport to Anchorage Alaska and then on to the small airport located just outside of Kotzebue.  This will be the home base from June 1st to September 6th while I and others assisting in the study.  We will be heading to various location via boat and on foot throughout the three months, gathering stream data, maintaining equipment, and taking various samples.  I'll provide more information about the position in a future post.

Since I'll be out west all summer, it is the perfect opportunity to raod trip out toSeattle and live out of my car, camping and just exploring following my return from Alaska in September.  Details of the trip are still very vague but that's the way I like it.  Fly by the seat of your pants and good things happen that you just can't plan.  

My trip started on May 7th by heading to Detroit to see friends, up to Houghton, MI for the weekend and then to Minneapolis, MN to see family.  From there, I have from the 13th to the 25th of May to make it up to Whistler, BC  where I'll be leaving my car and heading out to Alaska via the Seattle Int. Airport.

I should be posting to the blog on a weekly or bi-weekly basis depending on internet so check back often for updates, photos, hiking trail descriptions, and more.  

Look forward to sharing the adventure!